English Boxing in the 1970’s
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By Faisal “Fayz” Masood
In the 1970’s Heavyweight boxing was going through what many refer to as its golden period. Names such as George Foreman, Joe Frazier and Muhammad Ali would dominate the decade and forge their names as legends of the sport. The heavyweight scene in England wasn’t too shabby either as the country produced arguably its most popular ever boxer, Henry Cooper – possessor of the punch which floored Ali, then Cassius Clay, in the 1960’s with ‘Enry’s Ammer’.
Cooper of course, was winding down a successful career which began in 1954 and saw him win the British, Commonwealth and European titles and eventually retired after losing his titles in 1971 to an up and coming fighter from England, the 21yr old Joe Bugner.
Joe Bugner’s controversial decision win over ‘Our Enry’, meant he wasn’t always very high in the popularity stakes in England, but he was high in was the worlds heavyweight rankings. Bugner fought the best the division had to offer, twice against Muhammad Ali as well as providing Joe Frazier with arguably his sternest test outside of Ali and George Foreman. Bugner was so impressive that Ali and his trainer Angelo Dundee had both tipped him to eventually become a world champion. Unfortunately, despite impressive wins over names such as Jurgin Blin and Jimmy Ellis, the world titles evaded Bugner. He was however a three time European champion.
Bugner retired in 1976 but was soon back in the ring, After Ali had demolished another English fighter named Richard Dunn, Bugner returned to fight Dunn, disgusted with Dunn’s lacklustre performance against Ali, Bugner was to make even quicker work of him, knocking out Dunn in the very first round. A loss against another top contender of the heavyweight division meant Bugner would retire again a year later.
Muhammad Ali’s impact though wasn’t just in the English heavyweight scene, it was also felt in the English light heavyweight scene….
With Ali’s influence and impact being felt across the globe, England itself was looking for it’s own Muhammad Ali – enter John Conteh. Conteh hailed from Liverpool, a city which is still producing some of the country’s best boxers and was known for his speed and excellent jab, Conteh would often double and triple up his jab and modelled his game on Ali and it was Ali who changed the trajectory of Conteh’s career. In 1973 Conteh was fighting on the undercard of the Ali v Bugner bout, having asked Ali for advice, he was advised to drop down to the light heavyweight division because he wasn’t big enough(the cruiserweight division was not yet in existence). The advice would prove golden as Conteh quickly developed into one of the best light heavyweights in the world and one of England’s greatest ever champions, just one year later Conteh had already claimed the WBC light heavyweight title with a 15 round decision over Jorge Victor Ahumada. The title had been left vacant by the great Bob Foster, who of course had previously beaten a common foe of Conteh’s, another English fighter Chris Finnegan.
Chris Finnegan was an Olympic gold medalist winner who competed in the professional ranks as a middleweight and light heavyweight but it was his younger brother who made a bigger name for himself. Kevin Finnegan won the british middleweight title as well as the European title and was best known for his trilogy of fights with Alan Minter, which were all closely competed. Kevin also battled against the great Marvin Hagler, earning accolades from Hagler as being the toughest man he had fought. Alan Minter, after a rocky start to his career would climb himself up the boxing ladder and win himself the British, Commonwealth and European titles setting himself up for a world title shot as the 70’s ended. He would of course end up claiming the world title and eventually, just like Finnegan, face Marvin Hagler, but that was to occur in 1980. The 1970’s also gave us a young middleweight by the name of Tony Sibson, his career took an upward curve in the 70’s which readied him for world title shots in the 80’s.
The West Indies cricket team was dominating the world in the 1970’s, churning out one fast bowler after another as they terrified opposing batsmen. But it wasn’t just cricket they were turning too, for those part of the Caribbean immigration to the UK, the 1970’s would produce the first Caribbean immigrant to win a British title when Bunny Sterling stopped Mark Rowe in 1970. Sterling would go onto win the European title six years later with a victory over Frank Reiche. The impact of Sterling is still felt to this day as countless children of Caribbean immigrants have gone onto because successful boxers and world class champions such as Frank Bruno, Lennox Lewis, Chris Eubank, SR., Nigel Benn and Lloyd Honeyghan.
It was only inevitable the hard streets of Bethnal Green would give us a world champion in the 1970’s. The world champion would come from the Welterweight division as John H Stracey showed his heart and his determination when he picked himself up off the canvas to stop the future hall of famer Jose Napoles by TKO in the sixth round to claim the WBC version of the title. It would take another hall of famer, Carlos Palomino, to take the title from Stracey, who succumbed to a viscous body attack from the Mexican. Palomino would go onto defeat the next man to beat an ageing Stracey (who would retire shortly after with an excellent record of 45-5 37 KO’s losses), Davey Boy Green. Green is perhaps best known for his fight with Sugar Ray Leonard, a fight which ended with one of Leonard’s signature knock outs, a brutal assault ending with a perfect left hook.
Finishing off the decade was Maurice Hope, another fighter of Caribbean descent who in 1979 became the WBC light middleweight champion with a victory over Rocky Mattioli.
Check out Fayz’s available books for download on Amazon. He also runs his own Personal Training site and blog over at Fayz Fitness.
Strength and Conditioning for Boxing – Workout Hits to get you Fighting Fit
The Boxing Cheat Sheet – Your Ultimate Guide to Ring Survival
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